Short Crime Thriller

"The Big Guys" - Flash fiction, winner of the Derringer Award. "A Fistful of Cozy" - A satire of the mystery cozy genre. "Cleansing" - An ancient crime of biblical proportions. "Lying Eyes" - Solve it yourself, given the clues."Perfect Plan" - Another solve it yourself. Don't you remember One Minute Mysteries and Encyclopedia Brown? "Piece of Cake" - Another solve it yourself, originally featured in Woman's World.

She's a socialite with a target on her back. He's the enforcer who once broke her heart. Celeste Navarro spent three years running from a monster who's determined to own her—in every way possible. When she resurfaces to retrieve her father's ledger, she never expected to find Rafe Moretti waiting for her, the man who shattered her world and walked away without a word. “This doesn’t change anything,” she gasped as his mouth blazed a trail along her collarbone. “I still hate you.” He pulled back just enough to meet her gaze, his eyes nearly black with desire. “It changes ...

Upon opening a time capsule from 1968, the author finds a letter written by a condemned insurance agent from Texas only minutes before his arrest on capital murder charges. The letter relates this agent's downfall at the hands of a crooked police detective and a twisted woman. Though he was undoubtedly innocent of the crime, history long ago recorded his apprehension, trial and execution. By the time you read his letter, fifty years will have passed, and nothing can be done to save its author. His tale is a cautionary one, however, and so well worth reading. Beware of dames, dives, and death.

A young, newlywed couple. A new custom home. A good life. Yet nothing can ever be perfect. When the man of the house begins to experience bizarre nightmares involving a disturbing, pantomime face appearing in his wife's voluminous closet night after night, his sanity becomes an issue. Though their evenings at home are filled with playful lovemaking in the first months spent in their lavish new dwelling, a chill begins to settle over them with the passage of time. When disturbing images and inexplicable disappearances plague a young couple in their new home, they begin to question every ...

Berlin does not make it easy to write noir fiction - or perhaps Berlin makes it too easy. Noir tradition casts a long, influential, and even daunting shadow. Neither Döblin nor Benn, Brecht nor Lang, catered to any crime fiction traditions. They merely steeped their literary projects in a great deal of noir. And so it is with most of the stories in our anthology: they do not necessarily follow the usual patterns of crime fiction, but regard noir as a license to write as they wish, a certain way of approaching the city, and a prism through which its nature is viewed....

Praise for Alice Crowley's writing: "I LOVED THE IMAGINATION OF THIS AUTHOR!" ~Satisfied Kindle Reader "FIVE STARS!" ~ Multiple Fans "Alice Crowley is one of our best living authors!" ~ G. Taylor Cyndy Lea is dating a rough and masculine biker gang leader named Wicker, when she realizes she has a certain power over men. Soon she is elected the leader of a gang of her own, but only after she proves herself by gaping her imagination and testing the limits of her body in this HOT new 10,000-word erotic story!

The Saint is back - fifty audiobooks are now available starring the debonair classic crime hero. Simon Templar is the Saint - daring, dazzling, and just a little disreputable. On the side of the law, but standing outside it, he dispenses his own brand of justice one criminal at a time. In this collection of nine short stories the Saint encounters a clever detective who isn't, a well-meaning mayor, a man who likes ants and a producer who turns out, much to the Saint's surprise, to be actually quite smart.

ORGINAL STORY - WRITTEN BY A HUMAN This intriguing prequel novella introduces Detective Ange Watson, tracing her first steps into the world of crime-solving and revealing how she became the tenacious investigator readers will grow to love. A Routine Case… or the Start of Something Deadly? Constable Ange Watson’s policing career is fast unravelling. After calling out a superior for recklessly putting her life at risk, she’s been sidelined, labelled as a whinger, left questioning whether she even belongs in the force. With her resignation email drafted and her finger hovering over "send...

In Mississippi Noir, literary crime fiction master Tom Franklin has assembled a phenomenal short-story collection that highlights a mesmerizing and diverse set of styles and subject matter. Urban, suburban, and rural settings alike unveil new shades of darkness that fall upon Mississippi's past and present.

Pittsburgh has recently (and more than once) been called the most livable city in America; yet the old image of smoky skies and steel mills spewing forth grit has never quite disappeared. Its history as a dirty industrial center is a part of its residents, a part of their toughness. The people of the steel city fight.

Ever wondered what early experiences shaped Reacher's explosive career as butt-kicker supreme, the one-man guided-missile battler for justice? In this original new short story, Lee Child looks back on an incident in his hero Jack Reacher's teenage years as the younger son of a tough career US Marine, on a faraway military base in the Pacific.

In the wake of San Francisco Noir, Los Angeles Noir, and Orange County Noir - all popular volumes in the Akashic Noir Series - comes the latest California installment, Oakland Noir. Masterfully curated by Jerry Thompson and Eddie Muller, the "Czar of Noir", this volume will shock, titillate, provoke, and entertain. The diverse cast of talented contributors will not disappoint.

Some stories are all about the crime. These stories are about the maelstrom of what happens afterward. A hard-bitten crew of professional thieves pull of the score of their lives, coming away with millions in cash, enough to change their lives, make new identities, start fresh. But that's when the real trouble begins. In this linked anthology, we follow each member of the crew of culprits after the heist and watch as this perfect score ends up a perfect nightmare.

Eliza thought she came to The Haven for answers—but the mansion’s secrets are more dangerous than she ever imagined. What begins as a search for the truth about her sister Claire’s death quickly turns into a sinister game of cat and mouse. At The Haven, a luxurious yet eerie retreat, whispers of missing guests, hidden passageways, and buried scandals haunt every corner. When Eliza discovers Claire’s journal, detailing cryptic clues and paranoid warnings, she realizes her sister’s death was no accident—and the same unseen enemy is now watching her. As Eliza uncovers a web of lies...

Somehow, they just really needed to disappear without leaving a trace of their presence behind and that simply wasn’t all that easy to do anymore. It’s the middle of the twenty-third century and while there have been staggering technological and environmental advances, human nature is still very much the same as it has always been. One woman unexpectedly finds herself thrust into the middle of a long simmering struggle between power, greed, and an overwhelming effort to keep long hidden secrets buried. Luckily she isn’t on her own. A childhood friend that she hasn’t seen in years is...

An original and entertaining selection of crime stories all committed on the railways. Authors include Baroness Orczy (most famous for The Scarlet Pimpernel) and Maurice Leblanc (most famous for Arsene Lupin.)

Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. This anthology includes brand-new stories by: Tommy Moore, Jessica Breheny, Naomi Hirahara, Calvin McMillin, Liza Monroy, Elizabeth McKenzie, Jill Wolfson, Ariel Gore, Jon Bailiff, Maceo Montoya, Micah Perks, Seana Graham, Vinnie Hansen, Peggy Townsend, Margaret Elysia Garcia, Lou Mathews, Lee Quarnstrom, Dillon Kaiser, Beth Lisick, and Wallace Baine.

A retelling of the Christmas Story in a way you've never heard it before.... The fable of a donkey who carries a mother and child safely to Egypt.... The tale of a widow who dislikes people until she meets a stranger.... From the most popular writer of all time comes a treasured collection of short stories and poems celebrating the holiday season. This special edition also contains a wealth of Agatha Christie rarities - not only all the stories, poems, and illustrations from her long out-of-print book Star over Bethlehem (1965) but also a reproduction of all her rare poetry.

Lieutenant Ethan Hendricks’ greatest nightmare just also happened to be his grandfather’s newest business venture. Logan Hendricks is thrilled about his brand new detective agency’s first case, but things weren’t turning out the way they were supposed to, including the attempted murder of one of his brand new employees. But he figures their next case, which involves finding a missing sister, should go a lot smoother. How dangerous could it be? Ethan Hendricks wasn’t quite as confident about his grandfather’s new hobby, or that the supposedly straight-forward case of a missing ...

Do you love to read children’s mysteries? If so, you will find The Pleasantville Junior Detective Agency enjoyable. It’s about a 9-year-old boy named Perry Winkle who becomes the neighborhood junior detective. The reader tries to uncover each clue and solve the case. For those that haven’t cracked the case by the end, they can turn to the last page of each chapter and see how Perry solved it.